App Ed Review
Do you prefer tools that are efficient, straightforward, and get the job done? We like them, too. This month, App Ed Review has curated four of our favorite easy-to-use websites for your classroom!
- Penzu might just be the easiest-to-use website for writing ever created! The Penzu website links with the both its iOS apps for the iPhone and iPad and its Android app that runs on a number of devices! Students do have to register with Penzu, which requires them to provide an email address, username, and password. However, once they do, students are able to write and share journal entries. Penzu also includes a bevvy of writing tools, which are very similar to those found in most word processing apps and programs. Plus, students can upload images and insert hyperlinks right into their journal entry, and when they are ready to share it, students can do something simply by making the journal public and posting its URL address or by emailing it to someone. The ways teachers can incorporate Penzu are almost limitless, and teachers can get starting thinking about those ways by clicking here!
- Being former teachers, we here at App Ed Review understand how important it is for students to understand different vocabulary words and learn their synonyms. That’s why we wanted to share the Rewordify This resource lets read texts that use modified language. All users have to do is copy-and-paste text into the dialog box in this website, and Rewordify will provide them with a simpler text, which makes this resource a dynamite resource for teachers who are differentiated their instruction. In addition, Rewordify can be used to learn new words using it can use Rewordify to learn new words and evaluate the readability of a text. Using our rubric, Rewordify earned perfect scores for its Utility and Connection to Future Learning. Check out our review by clicking here.
- Do your students keep making the same grammar mistakes again and again? Use Grammarly. This website checks students’ (and teachers’) writing for grammatical mistakes and helps students understand proper grammar. Users can upload a document and Grammarly will read the document and show the uploader its grammatical issues. Each issue can be corrected or ignored as the user goes through the document. A Freemium website, more advanced paid features include plagiarism and thesaurus functions. Grammarly is easy to use, scoring a 9.5 in Design. View the full review here.
- Would your students benefit from visualizing scenes from Shakespeare or planning sequences in their own movie projects? Check out StoryboardThat for this great, free, storyboarding helper. Users log in and click “Create a Storyboard,” filling blank cells with different characters, backgrounds, text, shapes, uploads, and more! Once complete, users click “Save” and then they can share their storyboard with anyone they want by downloading as a PDF, PowerPoint, sharing an embed code, etc. StoryboardThat scored a 5/5 in Navigation, and a high score overall when graded against our comprehensive rubric. For instructional ideas, click here.
That’s all for this month’s Roundup. If you would like more information about any of the apps mentioned here or that are on the App Ed Review website, please contact us at info@appedreview.com. And remember, all devices can access websites, it just depends on which websites you direct them to!
